Yeovil Town lost 4-2 to Stockport County at a rain-sodden Huish Park this afternoon, in a topsy-turvy entertaining match. The scoreline flattered the Hatters somewhat, with the Glovers committing defensive suicide twice during first half injury time, as a 2-1 lead through wonderful strikes from Nathan Smith and Paul Warne turned into a 2-3 reversal at half time. The Glovers battled to break down Stockport in an equally open second period, but the sucker punch came at the tail end of the second half when Carl Baker put the icing on Stockport's cake.

The preparation for the game wasn't the best. Gifton Noel-Williams had to pull out of the match due to illness, meaning that Gavin Tomlin was drafted into the side. A slightly more measured change was for Lee Peltier to replace the injured Craig Alcock at right back which made Gary Roberts a natural return from suspension into the centre of the park.

Referee Phil Crossley somehow didn't seem to be aware of the plans for a minute's applause for former goalkeeper Dickie Dyke and the direct kick-off seemed to confuse the Yeovil players and crowd who had been preparing to pay tribute to their 1949 hero. That didn't happen, and instead a second attempt will be now made on Boxing Day to get it right.

After a fairly strong start by Yeovil, they conceded with Stockport's first strike on target with a fairly soft goal. Stockport had looked at their most dangerous when they were swinging balls in from the wings, and had already connected with a few headers, but Stockport captain Johnny Mullins was inspired by being given the armband for the day, scoring his first ever goal for the club, when he received a Dominic Blizzard ball across the face of the box. No-one in the Yeovil defence looked to close him down and Mullins was able to place his 15 yard shot into the far corner to stun the Glovers.

Some superb flowing moves as the Glovers broke forward almost got themselves early goals. Gavin Tomlin had a one-on-one blocked by the Stockport keeper, with Luke Rodgers desperately scrambling to get to the loose ball on the rebound. Some of the interplay was superb, with Danny Schofield and Gary Roberts combining to set Schofield up for a rasping drive that visiting keeper Williams struggled to palm away. With the pressure increasing, Yeovil could feel justified in scoring a spectacular equaliser just two minutes after the opening goal. Nathan Smith picked up the ball inside the Stockport half, moved into a central position and unleashed an outstanding curling strike that landed in the top left hand corner for his first ever Yeovil Town goal.

More of the same was to come three minutes before the break. Paul Warne picked the ball up from the left side of midfield, and his switch from the opposite wing appeared to open up a gap, and he fired a superb strike from the edge of the box and into the far corner. All seemed to now be going to plan with Yeovil now well on top.

However, the Glovers shot themselves in the foot with some bafflingly naive defending as the game approached the half time break. Right on 45 minutes, Tommy Rowe received the ball inside the Yeovil box on his left foot. Both Lee Peltier and Terrell Forbes closed him down together, and with both over-committing themselves, Rowe was able to side-step the two defenders in one easy sidestep and fire across the face of Josh Wagenaar's goal, with a deflection off Forbes probably not helping matters.

Three minutes into injury time, matters went from bad to worse, when Nathan Smith left Johnny Mullins in 10 yards of space as the Yeovil left-back occupied a far too central position allowing Mullins a chance to repeat his opener and give the Glovers the worst possible end to the half.

The second period saw Stockport unsurprisingly adopt a slightly more cautious approach, and Yeovil struggled to create as many chances as they had in the first period, not helped by a pitch that was cut to ribbons and a match referee who seemed to be taking a random course to many of his decisions on the day. Former Glover Michael Rose could consider himself lucky to last the distance when a two-footed tackle on Gary Roberts was followed up by Rose appearing to use his hands in Roberts' face. Somehow Crossley didn't see either offence as worthy of a red card.

Russell Slade threw on Aaron Brown as an unorthodox striker, with a fairly ineffective Gavin Tomlin displaced, in an attempt to create the 'big target man' that was lost when Noel-Williams dropped out of the squad. A few goalmouth scrambles were inches away from the boot of Luke Rodgers, with his impressive performance not quite being capped with a ball dropping where he needed it to be. In the final three minutes, Yeovil switched to a 4-3-3 with Andre McCollin introduced, but they were done by a sucker-punch as Carl Baker's header a minute from time caught the Glovers short at the back.

It was a curates egg of a game to watch. Some strong attacking football was let down by some awful defending as three minutes of madness cost them the game. Those watching certainly got their entertainment value, but ultimately it was the wrong sort of entertainment, and no-one in the Yeovil camp will be happy about that.